INTERVIEW Takashi Miyamoto (Designer of 'usually just a T-SHIRT') Part 1
2020.06.08 / OTHERS
The era when you couldn't get your hands on the ALL STAR from 'CONVERSE'. On Kumamoto's Shower Street, there was a store called 'OUTDOOR SPORTS' opened by Masahiro Arita, which is said to have created the prototype of select shops. It was a unique store in the country where mountain parkas, denim shirts, western boots, and other foreign products that people at that time had never seen before were lined up, and young men who looked like they stepped out of a movie gathered, passionately discussing culture and selling clothes. The person I spoke with this time, Takashi Miyamoto, was also one of those captivated by that movement. While reflecting on his life, I had him talk about various aspects of fashion and music from that time through his memories.
Fuji When did you first become interested in fashion?
Miyamoto I think it was when I was in elementary school. In my area, there were three elementary schools, and I went to the one closest to the city center, but there was a boy who was the son of a greengrocer in the market, wearing 'Munsing', 'McGREGOR', and 'LACOSTE', and I thought he was so stylish.
Fuji He certainly sounds like a fashionable elementary school student. Was that friend the trigger for your interest in fashion?
Miyamoto No, but my mother's influence might have been stronger. I was big for my age, so I couldn't fit into the elementary school uniform. Everyone wore a double-breasted gray jacket, but since it didn't fit, I wore it like a single-breasted jacket. The pants were supposed to be gray shorts, but my mother absolutely wouldn't let me wear those. I remember getting navy shorts from the 'UNIVERSITY SHOP' at Isetan in Kumamoto. Anyway, my mother said, "You don't have to wear matching gray pants," and she wouldn't budge. When we went to a relative's wedding, she would dress me in a navy blazer, a button-down shirt, and an ascot tie.
Fuji Your mother sounds quite unique.
Miyamoto Yes, she was. My mother loved music, and I remember being introduced to Elvis Presley and Ray Charles for the first time. My father loved jazz, so every Sunday morning, he would play records. My mother particularly loved Simon & Garfunkel, and I have memories of often listening to 'El Condor Pasa / If I Could'. She also loved movies and said she watched 'West Side Story' dozens of times when she was young. Back then, the only foreign information we had was from record jackets and movies. Looking back now, wanting to imitate the people in those movies might have been the trigger for my interest in fashion.
Fuji I see. What was your favorite movie at that time?
Miyamoto I thought '12 Angry Men' was cool. It stars Henry Fonda and is based on the jury system, with most of the action taking place in a room. The setting and story were interesting, but I thought the clothes at that time were stylish. They wore polo shirts with ties. Henry Fonda wore a white suit. The scene at the end where Henry Fonda leaves the room and walks down the stairs was so cool.
Fuji What kind of music were you listening to back then?
Miyamoto I started consciously listening to music around the 4th or 5th grade of elementary school. When I was younger, I listened to theme songs from anime and popular songs on TV, but gradually, influenced by my mother, I started listening to Elvis Presley and The Ventures. Then, there was a TV program called 'Tele Jockey Sunday Grand March' on Sunday afternoons, where there was a segment where you could win a white guitar as a prize. During that program, there was a commercial for 'EDWIN' jeans with 'She loves you' playing in the background. When I asked my mother what that was, she told me it was The Beatles, and I immediately went to the record section of the bookstore in front of Kumamoto Station and bought a record. The B-side was 'I’ll Get You', and shortly after, I bought The Beatles' debut album 'Please Please Me' and listened to it every day.
Fuji Was The Beatles popular in the world at that time?
Miyamoto Not at all. They had disbanded 5 or 6 years earlier. Plus, being an elementary school student, there was no one around me listening to Western music. But when I got to junior high, there were a few people who seemed to like it. At that time, there were many seniors from other schools who had pompadours and looked like delinquents, but there were few like that in my junior high. The most memorable thing was seeing a pair of 'CONVERSE' ALL STARS in a senior's shoe locker, in colors like purple, gold, and navy that you rarely see in shoes. I thought they were so cool. That was the first time I felt America.
Fuji When did you start a band?
Miyamoto In my first year of junior high, I really wanted to play an instrument, but back then, there weren't many videos or photos, so I didn't know what anything was. I knew that John had a guitar and George had a guitar too. I thought Paul had an instrument with only four strings. At that time, I found a copy of Paul’s 'HOFNER' violin bass at a pawn shop on Kamiyama Street. I saved up 10,000 yen from my New Year's money, but that wasn't enough, so I consulted my wealthiest friend, the son of a landowner, and he easily lent me 20,000 yen, and I finally got it.
Fuji Was that extortion? (laughs)
Miyamoto No, no, it wasn't like that (laughs). We were still good friends afterward, and I think I paid him back properly.
Fuji I see. So you started a band with that friend?
Miyamoto No, it wasn't with him. I formed a band with the son of a local notable. He had a guitar, and we started together. The guitar he had was a 'Greco' with a lot of switches, and I didn't really understand how it worked. Around my second year of junior high, the punk movement started. At that time, there was a local TV program called 'Saturday Music Special' hosted by Kanabun, which played music videos, and I learned from watching that. Bands like The Clash, Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello, The Police, Wings, and The Knack's 'My Sharona' were featured. The Beatles hardly ever appeared (laughs).
Fuji It sounds like you were really figuring things out.
Miyamoto Yes. I didn't even know how to tune my guitar. Now we have electronic tuners, but back then, we used tuning forks or tuned to records. Then, eventually, that notable's son bought an electronic tuner, and when I borrowed it before practice, it didn't match at all, and as I kept turning it, it got tighter and tighter until it snapped, and when I said, "It broke," he said, "You need to turn up the volume to pick up the sound." I didn't know that. I was so angry thinking, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" But since I was borrowing it, I couldn't say anything, so I rode my bike for an hour and a half to Nishino Musical Instruments on Kamiyama Street to buy just one string, and then took another 30 minutes to restring it.
Fuji That sounds like youth (laughs). By the way, what kind of clothes were you wearing at that time?
Miyamoto At that time, I was wearing an 'adidas' windbreaker, 'Levi’s' jeans, and 'CONVERSE' ALL STARS.
Fuji Finally, the coveted 'CONVERSE'.
Miyamoto Yes. I bought the 'adidas' windbreaker at a department store's sports shop. But 'CONVERSE' was nowhere to be found. At first, I didn't even know the brand name, so my mother occasionally took me to 'REGEL', where they sold high-cut sneakers that looked very similar to 'CONVERSE' ONE STAR, and I wore those. But those had an R written where the star mark is supposed to be, and I thought that was different. At that time, it was normal to go to department stores or specialty shops in shopping streets like Kamiyama and Shitamachi to buy clothes, but there was one shop on the outskirts of the shopping street called 'OUTDOOR SPORTS', which had a completely different atmosphere from the others. It didn't have an arcade like Kamiyama and Shitamachi, so it was called Shower Street. It was generally a red-light district. But at 'OUTDOOR SPORTS', there were mountain parkas hanging outside, and underneath were western boots, leather jackets, flannel shirts, denim shirts, and many other things I had never seen in other stores, and there were always cool people there. It felt like a different world altogether.
Fuji Did you buy your 'CONVERSE' ALL STAR at 'OUTDOOR SPORTS'?
Miyamoto Yes. At first, I was too scared to go in, so I rode my bike back and forth in front of the store, observing it. One day, I mustered the courage to enter, but I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere, quickly bought the 'CONVERSE' I wanted, and hurriedly left without even properly checking the size.
Fuji It must have been quite an unusual store for that time. Were there any other stores like that across the country?
Miyamoto I think there probably were. But I think Arita was quite ahead of his time.
Fuji I see. So before Arita opened 'OUTDOOR SPORTS', there weren't any stores like that?
Miyamoto No, in Kumamoto, there were originally stores like 'Sanko' and 'OUR HOUSE', run by a person named Higashihama from Okinawa, which were considered such stores, and it seems Arita was there. It seems Kinoshita (the founder of Dice&Dice) also went there, but I don't know much about that, so I can only ask Arita or Kinoshita.
Fuji That's a very interesting story. Thank you. I would love to continue hearing your story, but can we go back and organize the timeline for a moment?
Miyamoto Sure. By the way, Fuji-kun, is this okay?
Fuji Of course (laughs).
Miyamoto Then that's good (laughs).
Fuji Please continue in this manner. Next, Miyamoto-san, let's talk about your third year of junior high.
Miyamoto In my third year of junior high, I was almost completely immersed in the band. I practiced, performed live, and played at friends' houses. We held live shows at a normal house of a Heike family. Friends' mothers would be doing home work next door. There were no complaints, and sometimes mothers would say, "You guys are getting pretty good at this." My friend Fukuda came to one of those live shows, and on a whim, I had him sing The Beatles' 'Come Together', and from then on, Fukuda got fired up. Fukuda's family owned a sheet metal shop and was quite wealthy, and there was a prefab house on their property where they housed employees, so we brought in a drum set to that empty prefab and practiced like it was our secret base, spending all day practicing on our days off. Fukuda now runs a record store in Kumamoto.
Fuji It sounds like a story from a movie.
Miyamoto As we were doing that, I had to take high school entrance exams, and I wanted to go to a private high school called Kyushu Gakuin in the city, but I failed that. I thought I would have to go to a backup high school. Then, my mother said, "You don't have to go to a place you don't want to go. It’s the same if you go somewhere you don't want to go." I was told that, but I still went to take the public exam, but I ended up not taking the second day of the exam because I didn't want to.
Fuji What did you do after that?
Miyamoto I became a ronin. But even as a ronin, I didn't know what to do, so I ended up going to a cram school called Matsukazujuku, which was recommended by my junior high school. When I got there, I was surprised to find three classes. There was a famous headmaster, and they even had an external lecturer who was a former military officer teaching Japanese. There were students who genuinely wanted to study and others who didn't, and it was quite chaotic.
Fuji Did you continue with the band during that time?
Miyamoto No, I definitely wasn't doing it at that time.
Fuji Right. Were you okay the following year?
Miyamoto Yes, I was. I passed Kyushu Gakuin and finally started my high school life, but I think I felt out of place from the very beginning. I was conscious of it. I thought it would be fine to play with anyone regardless of whether they were first or second years, so I always went out to disco at night with them.
Fuji What was the disco scene like at that time?
Miyamoto Well, I thought high school was the end of my studies, so I didn't study at all. It was a relaxed time, and I drank a lot of alcohol, enjoying it more than the adults there. I wasn't really interested in the funk-like music at the disco, and the DJs were probably fast, but there were a lot of people who seemed a bit flashy, and I wasn't very interested. The staff at Arita's new store 'Blaze' were cooler, and once I got to high school, I bought all my clothes at 'Blaze'. At that time, DC brands were trending, like 'MELROSE', 'BIGI', and 'COMME des GARCONS'. Everyone was using those brand's plastic bags, the black ones with 'BIGI' written in gold, as their second bag for school. But that all seemed a bit flashy too. There were still plenty of guys with pompadours and short jackets. But we would get perms, have our hair neatly cut and parted to the side, and in winter, we wore wool serge school uniforms. In summer, we wore larger button-down shirts, and for pants, we wore 'BEN DAVIS' or 'Dickies', and our shoes were 'Top-Sider'. We also wore 'CONVERSE', but the white or navy 'Top-Sider' was cooler. In winter, I wore a white stenciled coat over my school uniform.
Fuji A white stenciled coat sounds incredibly stylish.
Miyamoto The school uniform was navy, but Paul Weller from The Jam wore white. So I thought, why not white? The seniors at Kyushu Gakuin were also stylish. They were not just simply fashionable but looked clean. A senior who resembled Alain Delon, whom I admired from the same junior high, was also at Kyushu Gakuin. To go back a bit, my uncle's house was right behind Kenkun Airport, and the older guys who rode motorcycles around there rode 'Kawasaki Mach III' and 'Honda CB750', and when they got off their bikes, they would comb their hair neatly to the side, wear chinos, button-down shirts, and loafers. I thought they looked cooler than the typical gang members. It seems Arita was also among those people. Arita was also a senior at Kyushu Gakuin, and while he was in school, he was influenced by 'TAKE IVY' and created the 'All Kyugaku Ivy Spirit Club'. That club was purely for enjoying fashion, and it seems students from other schools would come to see it, and Kinoshita had been playing with that club and the people around him since junior high.
Fuji I see. So Arita stood out even in high school.
Miyamoto I think so. In a time when there was little information, Arita was one of the first to be inspired by American fashion culture and tried to embody it. In 1972, when Okinawa was returned, the exchange of goods between Kumamoto and Okinawa became active, and American products that were surplus from the U.S. military flowed into Kumamoto. Higashihama from 'OUR HOUSE' is also from Okinawa. That environment might have influenced Arita and his generation. There might be a background to why Kumamoto was at the forefront of fashion during that era.
Fuji I see. So that was the situation. What was it like when you frequented Arita's store?
Miyamoto It changed from 'OUTDOOR SPORTS' to 'Blaze'. I used to go there two or three times a week. 'Blaze' was divided into a fitting area in the front half and a back half, with the front half inheriting the taste of 'OUTDOOR SPORTS' and having an American feel, while the back half featured selections from 'Paul Smith' and 'MARGARET HOWELL', and shoes from 'Church’s' were also available. It wasn't a very large store, but there were always 5 to 6 staff members. Everyone was stylish, and I was happy to learn new information every time I went.
Fuji That's quite a lot of staff.
Miyamoto Yes. Much later, Arita told me that there was a reason for having so many staff. One time, when Arita went to the 'Imperial Hotel Osaka', he was shocked. There are various hotels in Kumamoto like 'Castle' and 'New Sky', but the number of staff was completely different. Just entering, he was seen by two or three people, and if he wanted to do something, two people would immediately come to help. He thought it was cooler for there to be more staff than customers. He thought that being able to provide more service would be more enjoyable. That was apparently the reason.
Fuji That's a perspective you don't see much nowadays. It really was an interesting store.
Miyamoto My mother once went to 'Blaze' on my birthday or Christmas and said, "If there are any items set aside for my son, I'll pay and take them home." The person who always served us, Shimizutani, said, "This is something Miyamoto-kun said he would save up and come to buy, so please don't do that." I thought to myself, "Why did you say that?" But my mother seemed relieved and said, "I think so too, you should buy it yourself." When that happened, I thought I wanted to go back again.
Fuji That's such a nice story.
Miyamoto At that time, Nakagawa from 'Blaze' asked me, "What are you going to do after you graduate high school?" Then the next time I went, he said, "Why don't you work part-time here?" I started working part-time from the summer vacation of my third year of high school. After graduating from high school, I officially joined the company, and for about three months, I worked at 'Blaze', wearing a 'MARGARET HOWELL' shirt, 'Levi’s' 501 jeans, a Garrison belt, and 'Tricker’s' wingtip shoes with a raised edge. I think that was the first time Howell made a special order. I also had a bandana peeking out from my back pocket. My socks were colorful ones from 'Byford', and my underwear was from 'SUNSPEL'. Even now, that looks stylish.
Fuji It definitely looks stylish even now.
Miyamoto Honestly, I was moved when I first saw Howell's shirt. It was made in England, with stripes, a wide spread collar, and double cuffs. It cost nearly 30,000 yen, but it was stylish. At that time, I think Arita did most of the buying, but since there was hardly any information, finding brands was mostly based on intuition. Both 'MARGARET HOWELL' and 'Paul Smith' were almost unknown at first, and it seems he contacted them directly and showed them clothes spread out on a bed in a hotel room.
Fuji Have you ever met the two of them?
Miyamoto Paul came to Japan twice a year for exhibitions. Every time, he would sit in front of me and tell me to ask questions, but I often asked off-the-mark questions like what he thought of 'JOHNSONS' or whether he was influenced by the punk movement, and everyone was taken aback by my rather confrontational questions. When I first went to England, I was moved when I visited Paul's store. Whether it was the taste, the ideas, or the fixtures, Paul’s worldview was beautifully expressed; it felt more like Paul’s atelier than a clothing store. There was nothing like that in Japan.
Fuji That sounds like a rare experience. I'm honestly envious.
Miyamoto I also met Howell once in Kumamoto. We invited customers for a party because Howell was coming. People from Tokyo came, and I felt proud that Kumamoto's clothing store was gaining attention in the forefront. At that time, I met Kinoshita for the first time, who had come from Fukuoka, and he was wearing a white 'MARGARET HOWELL' Liberty shirt. I accidentally got pizza from catering on that shirt, and at that time, Kinoshita said, "It's totally fine, don't worry about it," but later he told me, "I haven't worn that shirt since then" (laughs).
Fuji So he was indeed concerned about it (laughs). By the way, were parties held often?
Miyamoto Back then, we often held parties inviting designers and customers. It was quite similar to what Dice is doing now. I think there weren't many opportunities in Japan to meet designers so closely at parties.
Fuji The current Dice parties likely carry on that aspect.
Miyamoto That might be true. Soon after, Arita started talking about opening a new store called 'movement', and it began with Kinoshita, Asada, and Shimizutani, who had returned from Fukuoka. That store was a high-end European-style store, unlike 'Blaze', with stores like 'Crawla', 'Culture Shock', and 'HEMISPHERES'. I joined a little later. It was fun to get praised by Kinoshita for good service, and I was proud to be part of 'Blaze' and 'movement'.
Fuji Those involved at that time must have felt they were at the forefront of the times.
Fuji When did you first become interested in fashion?
Miyamoto I think it was when I was in elementary school. In my area, there were three elementary schools, and I went to the one closest to the city center, but there was a boy who was the son of a greengrocer in the market, wearing 'Munsing', 'McGREGOR', and 'LACOSTE', and I thought he was so stylish.
Fuji He certainly sounds like a fashionable elementary school student. Was that friend the trigger for your interest in fashion?
Miyamoto No, but my mother's influence might have been stronger. I was big for my age, so I couldn't fit into the elementary school uniform. Everyone wore a double-breasted gray jacket, but since it didn't fit, I wore it like a single-breasted jacket. The pants were supposed to be gray shorts, but my mother absolutely wouldn't let me wear those. I remember getting navy shorts from the 'UNIVERSITY SHOP' at Isetan in Kumamoto. Anyway, my mother said, "You don't have to wear matching gray pants," and she wouldn't budge. When we went to a relative's wedding, she would dress me in a navy blazer, a button-down shirt, and an ascot tie.
Fuji Your mother sounds quite unique.
Miyamoto Yes, she was. My mother loved music, and I remember being introduced to Elvis Presley and Ray Charles for the first time. My father loved jazz, so every Sunday morning, he would play records. My mother particularly loved Simon & Garfunkel, and I have memories of often listening to 'El Condor Pasa / If I Could'. She also loved movies and said she watched 'West Side Story' dozens of times when she was young. Back then, the only foreign information we had was from record jackets and movies. Looking back now, wanting to imitate the people in those movies might have been the trigger for my interest in fashion.
Fuji I see. What was your favorite movie at that time?
Miyamoto I thought '12 Angry Men' was cool. It stars Henry Fonda and is based on the jury system, with most of the action taking place in a room. The setting and story were interesting, but I thought the clothes at that time were stylish. They wore polo shirts with ties. Henry Fonda wore a white suit. The scene at the end where Henry Fonda leaves the room and walks down the stairs was so cool.
Fuji What kind of music were you listening to back then?
Miyamoto I started consciously listening to music around the 4th or 5th grade of elementary school. When I was younger, I listened to theme songs from anime and popular songs on TV, but gradually, influenced by my mother, I started listening to Elvis Presley and The Ventures. Then, there was a TV program called 'Tele Jockey Sunday Grand March' on Sunday afternoons, where there was a segment where you could win a white guitar as a prize. During that program, there was a commercial for 'EDWIN' jeans with 'She loves you' playing in the background. When I asked my mother what that was, she told me it was The Beatles, and I immediately went to the record section of the bookstore in front of Kumamoto Station and bought a record. The B-side was 'I’ll Get You', and shortly after, I bought The Beatles' debut album 'Please Please Me' and listened to it every day.
Fuji Was The Beatles popular in the world at that time?
Miyamoto Not at all. They had disbanded 5 or 6 years earlier. Plus, being an elementary school student, there was no one around me listening to Western music. But when I got to junior high, there were a few people who seemed to like it. At that time, there were many seniors from other schools who had pompadours and looked like delinquents, but there were few like that in my junior high. The most memorable thing was seeing a pair of 'CONVERSE' ALL STARS in a senior's shoe locker, in colors like purple, gold, and navy that you rarely see in shoes. I thought they were so cool. That was the first time I felt America.
Fuji When did you start a band?
Miyamoto In my first year of junior high, I really wanted to play an instrument, but back then, there weren't many videos or photos, so I didn't know what anything was. I knew that John had a guitar and George had a guitar too. I thought Paul had an instrument with only four strings. At that time, I found a copy of Paul’s 'HOFNER' violin bass at a pawn shop on Kamiyama Street. I saved up 10,000 yen from my New Year's money, but that wasn't enough, so I consulted my wealthiest friend, the son of a landowner, and he easily lent me 20,000 yen, and I finally got it.
Fuji Was that extortion? (laughs)
Miyamoto No, no, it wasn't like that (laughs). We were still good friends afterward, and I think I paid him back properly.
Fuji I see. So you started a band with that friend?
Miyamoto No, it wasn't with him. I formed a band with the son of a local notable. He had a guitar, and we started together. The guitar he had was a 'Greco' with a lot of switches, and I didn't really understand how it worked. Around my second year of junior high, the punk movement started. At that time, there was a local TV program called 'Saturday Music Special' hosted by Kanabun, which played music videos, and I learned from watching that. Bands like The Clash, Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello, The Police, Wings, and The Knack's 'My Sharona' were featured. The Beatles hardly ever appeared (laughs).
Fuji It sounds like you were really figuring things out.
Miyamoto Yes. I didn't even know how to tune my guitar. Now we have electronic tuners, but back then, we used tuning forks or tuned to records. Then, eventually, that notable's son bought an electronic tuner, and when I borrowed it before practice, it didn't match at all, and as I kept turning it, it got tighter and tighter until it snapped, and when I said, "It broke," he said, "You need to turn up the volume to pick up the sound." I didn't know that. I was so angry thinking, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" But since I was borrowing it, I couldn't say anything, so I rode my bike for an hour and a half to Nishino Musical Instruments on Kamiyama Street to buy just one string, and then took another 30 minutes to restring it.
Fuji That sounds like youth (laughs). By the way, what kind of clothes were you wearing at that time?
Miyamoto At that time, I was wearing an 'adidas' windbreaker, 'Levi’s' jeans, and 'CONVERSE' ALL STARS.
Fuji Finally, the coveted 'CONVERSE'.
Miyamoto Yes. I bought the 'adidas' windbreaker at a department store's sports shop. But 'CONVERSE' was nowhere to be found. At first, I didn't even know the brand name, so my mother occasionally took me to 'REGEL', where they sold high-cut sneakers that looked very similar to 'CONVERSE' ONE STAR, and I wore those. But those had an R written where the star mark is supposed to be, and I thought that was different. At that time, it was normal to go to department stores or specialty shops in shopping streets like Kamiyama and Shitamachi to buy clothes, but there was one shop on the outskirts of the shopping street called 'OUTDOOR SPORTS', which had a completely different atmosphere from the others. It didn't have an arcade like Kamiyama and Shitamachi, so it was called Shower Street. It was generally a red-light district. But at 'OUTDOOR SPORTS', there were mountain parkas hanging outside, and underneath were western boots, leather jackets, flannel shirts, denim shirts, and many other things I had never seen in other stores, and there were always cool people there. It felt like a different world altogether.
Fuji Did you buy your 'CONVERSE' ALL STAR at 'OUTDOOR SPORTS'?
Miyamoto Yes. At first, I was too scared to go in, so I rode my bike back and forth in front of the store, observing it. One day, I mustered the courage to enter, but I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere, quickly bought the 'CONVERSE' I wanted, and hurriedly left without even properly checking the size.
Fuji It must have been quite an unusual store for that time. Were there any other stores like that across the country?
Miyamoto I think there probably were. But I think Arita was quite ahead of his time.
Fuji I see. So before Arita opened 'OUTDOOR SPORTS', there weren't any stores like that?
Miyamoto No, in Kumamoto, there were originally stores like 'Sanko' and 'OUR HOUSE', run by a person named Higashihama from Okinawa, which were considered such stores, and it seems Arita was there. It seems Kinoshita (the founder of Dice&Dice) also went there, but I don't know much about that, so I can only ask Arita or Kinoshita.
Fuji That's a very interesting story. Thank you. I would love to continue hearing your story, but can we go back and organize the timeline for a moment?
Miyamoto Sure. By the way, Fuji-kun, is this okay?
Fuji Of course (laughs).
Miyamoto Then that's good (laughs).
Fuji Please continue in this manner. Next, Miyamoto-san, let's talk about your third year of junior high.
Miyamoto In my third year of junior high, I was almost completely immersed in the band. I practiced, performed live, and played at friends' houses. We held live shows at a normal house of a Heike family. Friends' mothers would be doing home work next door. There were no complaints, and sometimes mothers would say, "You guys are getting pretty good at this." My friend Fukuda came to one of those live shows, and on a whim, I had him sing The Beatles' 'Come Together', and from then on, Fukuda got fired up. Fukuda's family owned a sheet metal shop and was quite wealthy, and there was a prefab house on their property where they housed employees, so we brought in a drum set to that empty prefab and practiced like it was our secret base, spending all day practicing on our days off. Fukuda now runs a record store in Kumamoto.
Fuji It sounds like a story from a movie.
Miyamoto As we were doing that, I had to take high school entrance exams, and I wanted to go to a private high school called Kyushu Gakuin in the city, but I failed that. I thought I would have to go to a backup high school. Then, my mother said, "You don't have to go to a place you don't want to go. It’s the same if you go somewhere you don't want to go." I was told that, but I still went to take the public exam, but I ended up not taking the second day of the exam because I didn't want to.
Fuji What did you do after that?
Miyamoto I became a ronin. But even as a ronin, I didn't know what to do, so I ended up going to a cram school called Matsukazujuku, which was recommended by my junior high school. When I got there, I was surprised to find three classes. There was a famous headmaster, and they even had an external lecturer who was a former military officer teaching Japanese. There were students who genuinely wanted to study and others who didn't, and it was quite chaotic.
Fuji Did you continue with the band during that time?
Miyamoto No, I definitely wasn't doing it at that time.
Fuji Right. Were you okay the following year?
Miyamoto Yes, I was. I passed Kyushu Gakuin and finally started my high school life, but I think I felt out of place from the very beginning. I was conscious of it. I thought it would be fine to play with anyone regardless of whether they were first or second years, so I always went out to disco at night with them.
Fuji What was the disco scene like at that time?
Miyamoto Well, I thought high school was the end of my studies, so I didn't study at all. It was a relaxed time, and I drank a lot of alcohol, enjoying it more than the adults there. I wasn't really interested in the funk-like music at the disco, and the DJs were probably fast, but there were a lot of people who seemed a bit flashy, and I wasn't very interested. The staff at Arita's new store 'Blaze' were cooler, and once I got to high school, I bought all my clothes at 'Blaze'. At that time, DC brands were trending, like 'MELROSE', 'BIGI', and 'COMME des GARCONS'. Everyone was using those brand's plastic bags, the black ones with 'BIGI' written in gold, as their second bag for school. But that all seemed a bit flashy too. There were still plenty of guys with pompadours and short jackets. But we would get perms, have our hair neatly cut and parted to the side, and in winter, we wore wool serge school uniforms. In summer, we wore larger button-down shirts, and for pants, we wore 'BEN DAVIS' or 'Dickies', and our shoes were 'Top-Sider'. We also wore 'CONVERSE', but the white or navy 'Top-Sider' was cooler. In winter, I wore a white stenciled coat over my school uniform.
Fuji A white stenciled coat sounds incredibly stylish.
Miyamoto The school uniform was navy, but Paul Weller from The Jam wore white. So I thought, why not white? The seniors at Kyushu Gakuin were also stylish. They were not just simply fashionable but looked clean. A senior who resembled Alain Delon, whom I admired from the same junior high, was also at Kyushu Gakuin. To go back a bit, my uncle's house was right behind Kenkun Airport, and the older guys who rode motorcycles around there rode 'Kawasaki Mach III' and 'Honda CB750', and when they got off their bikes, they would comb their hair neatly to the side, wear chinos, button-down shirts, and loafers. I thought they looked cooler than the typical gang members. It seems Arita was also among those people. Arita was also a senior at Kyushu Gakuin, and while he was in school, he was influenced by 'TAKE IVY' and created the 'All Kyugaku Ivy Spirit Club'. That club was purely for enjoying fashion, and it seems students from other schools would come to see it, and Kinoshita had been playing with that club and the people around him since junior high.
Fuji I see. So Arita stood out even in high school.
Miyamoto I think so. In a time when there was little information, Arita was one of the first to be inspired by American fashion culture and tried to embody it. In 1972, when Okinawa was returned, the exchange of goods between Kumamoto and Okinawa became active, and American products that were surplus from the U.S. military flowed into Kumamoto. Higashihama from 'OUR HOUSE' is also from Okinawa. That environment might have influenced Arita and his generation. There might be a background to why Kumamoto was at the forefront of fashion during that era.
Fuji I see. So that was the situation. What was it like when you frequented Arita's store?
Miyamoto It changed from 'OUTDOOR SPORTS' to 'Blaze'. I used to go there two or three times a week. 'Blaze' was divided into a fitting area in the front half and a back half, with the front half inheriting the taste of 'OUTDOOR SPORTS' and having an American feel, while the back half featured selections from 'Paul Smith' and 'MARGARET HOWELL', and shoes from 'Church’s' were also available. It wasn't a very large store, but there were always 5 to 6 staff members. Everyone was stylish, and I was happy to learn new information every time I went.
Fuji That's quite a lot of staff.
Miyamoto Yes. Much later, Arita told me that there was a reason for having so many staff. One time, when Arita went to the 'Imperial Hotel Osaka', he was shocked. There are various hotels in Kumamoto like 'Castle' and 'New Sky', but the number of staff was completely different. Just entering, he was seen by two or three people, and if he wanted to do something, two people would immediately come to help. He thought it was cooler for there to be more staff than customers. He thought that being able to provide more service would be more enjoyable. That was apparently the reason.
Fuji That's a perspective you don't see much nowadays. It really was an interesting store.
Miyamoto My mother once went to 'Blaze' on my birthday or Christmas and said, "If there are any items set aside for my son, I'll pay and take them home." The person who always served us, Shimizutani, said, "This is something Miyamoto-kun said he would save up and come to buy, so please don't do that." I thought to myself, "Why did you say that?" But my mother seemed relieved and said, "I think so too, you should buy it yourself." When that happened, I thought I wanted to go back again.
Fuji That's such a nice story.
Miyamoto At that time, Nakagawa from 'Blaze' asked me, "What are you going to do after you graduate high school?" Then the next time I went, he said, "Why don't you work part-time here?" I started working part-time from the summer vacation of my third year of high school. After graduating from high school, I officially joined the company, and for about three months, I worked at 'Blaze', wearing a 'MARGARET HOWELL' shirt, 'Levi’s' 501 jeans, a Garrison belt, and 'Tricker’s' wingtip shoes with a raised edge. I think that was the first time Howell made a special order. I also had a bandana peeking out from my back pocket. My socks were colorful ones from 'Byford', and my underwear was from 'SUNSPEL'. Even now, that looks stylish.
Fuji It definitely looks stylish even now.
Miyamoto Honestly, I was moved when I first saw Howell's shirt. It was made in England, with stripes, a wide spread collar, and double cuffs. It cost nearly 30,000 yen, but it was stylish. At that time, I think Arita did most of the buying, but since there was hardly any information, finding brands was mostly based on intuition. Both 'MARGARET HOWELL' and 'Paul Smith' were almost unknown at first, and it seems he contacted them directly and showed them clothes spread out on a bed in a hotel room.
Fuji Have you ever met the two of them?
Miyamoto Paul came to Japan twice a year for exhibitions. Every time, he would sit in front of me and tell me to ask questions, but I often asked off-the-mark questions like what he thought of 'JOHNSONS' or whether he was influenced by the punk movement, and everyone was taken aback by my rather confrontational questions. When I first went to England, I was moved when I visited Paul's store. Whether it was the taste, the ideas, or the fixtures, Paul’s worldview was beautifully expressed; it felt more like Paul’s atelier than a clothing store. There was nothing like that in Japan.
Fuji That sounds like a rare experience. I'm honestly envious.
Miyamoto I also met Howell once in Kumamoto. We invited customers for a party because Howell was coming. People from Tokyo came, and I felt proud that Kumamoto's clothing store was gaining attention in the forefront. At that time, I met Kinoshita for the first time, who had come from Fukuoka, and he was wearing a white 'MARGARET HOWELL' Liberty shirt. I accidentally got pizza from catering on that shirt, and at that time, Kinoshita said, "It's totally fine, don't worry about it," but later he told me, "I haven't worn that shirt since then" (laughs).
Fuji So he was indeed concerned about it (laughs). By the way, were parties held often?
Miyamoto Back then, we often held parties inviting designers and customers. It was quite similar to what Dice is doing now. I think there weren't many opportunities in Japan to meet designers so closely at parties.
Fuji The current Dice parties likely carry on that aspect.
Miyamoto That might be true. Soon after, Arita started talking about opening a new store called 'movement', and it began with Kinoshita, Asada, and Shimizutani, who had returned from Fukuoka. That store was a high-end European-style store, unlike 'Blaze', with stores like 'Crawla', 'Culture Shock', and 'HEMISPHERES'. I joined a little later. It was fun to get praised by Kinoshita for good service, and I was proud to be part of 'Blaze' and 'movement'.
Fuji Those involved at that time must have felt they were at the forefront of the times.